Slavery, a Railroad and a Song

In the last posting we traced the expansion of CN Rail (originally Canadian National) southward into the US along the Mississippi. With the acquisition of the Illinois Central, CN followed the steps of French explorers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

The first US-Canadian railway did not have locomotives and trackage. This was the Underground Railroad by which runaway slaves from the US south escaped into Canada.

Under Fugitive Slave laws, they were not safe in Northern states but could be captured and returned to their owners. The Underground Railroad was an escape route with a code.

It had a network of signals, signs and staffers, many unknown to each other. These were described as “conductors”, “engineers” and “station agents”, and their jobs were to guide, to transport and to shelter the fugitives at different stages on their journey to the border.

Follow the Drinking Gourd, sung by Pete Seeger, sets out such a code in a folksong:

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls:
Follow the Drinking Gourd
For the Old Man is a-waitin’ for to carry you to freedom:
Follow the Drinking Gourd.

Chorus
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Follow the Drinking Gourd
For the Old Man is a-waitin’ for to carry you to freedom:
Follow the Drinking Gourd.

Now the river bank makes a mighty good road
Dead trees will show you the way
And its left foot, peg foot, travelin’ on
Follow the Drinking Gourd.

Now the river ends between two hills:
Follow the Drinking Gourd
There’s another river on the other side:
Follow the Drinking Gourd.

The meaning is explained as follows: The return of the sun and the first quail allegedly refer to springtime when the Ohio River is still frozen, its crossing easier.

The Drinking Gourd, the water can on a plantation, is also the Big Dipper. Following it, and its pointers to Polaris, the North Star, leads north and eventually out of the US.

The Old Man, the captain or boss on the plantation, in this case is Peg Leg Joe, a guide. His alternating prints of left … and peg foot are cut in the dead trees along the river bank.

The last verse describes the watershed of Tombigbee and the Tennessee rivers at Woodall Mountain. One has been flowing south, the other due north to the Ohio River border with Illinois.

We don’t know how much of the song, if any, dates from the period it describes. But if the song is in doubt, the story of the Underground Railroad is definitely historical fact.

The last sites mentioned in the song are in US territory. But a final destination of the escapees—the northern terminus of the “railroad”—was the Village of Sydenham in Canada (today the City of Owen Sound, Ontario).

The Underground Railroad is one example of how the semi-permeable border between Canada and the US has served both countries. Later on this site we’ll look at more.